NATCA Bookshelf

NIW Today | 82 Glossary 35-DAY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN The longest government shutdown in U.S. history eroded the critical layers necessary to support and maintain the safety of the National Airspace System (NAS). The shutdown began at midnight Dec. 22, 2018 and lasted until Jan. 25, 2019. We work hard to mitigate distractions and reduce fatigue in our workforce, but the shutdown increased fatigue and introduced unnecessary risk. Even though the NAS is safer now than it was during the shutdown, the system is less safe today than it was before the shutdown began. ADMINISTRATIVE FURLOUGH A discretionary ("save money" or "non-emergency") furlough. It involves the placing of an employee in a temporary non-duty, non-pay status because of a lack of work or funds or for other non-disciplinary reasons. It is a planned event designed to absorb reductions necessitated by downsizing, reduced funding, lack of work, or any other event that requires the Agency to save money. This kind of furlough is "non-emergency" in that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has sufficient time to reduce spending and therefore give adequate notification of its specific furlough plan and how many furlough days or hours will be required for each affected employee. See also Shutdown Furlough. AIRPORT AND AIRWAY TRUST FUND (AATF) The FAA is funded primarily by the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (Trust Fund or AATF), which receives revenues from a series of excise taxes paid by users of the NAS. The Trust Fund was created in 1970 in an attempt to provide a dedicated source of funding for the NAS that is independent of the general treasury fund. Although the FAA still receives a variable amount of funding for Operations & Maintenance from the general treasury fund, in recent years, the Trust Fund has accounted for approximately 90% of the total appropriations for FAA's Operations budget and 100% of FAA's other budgeted expenditures. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER (ATC) HIRING REFORM ACT OF 2019 (S.1148) Bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., that would help improve the FAA's controller hiring process. NATCA strongly supports S. 1148, ATC Hiring Reform Act of 2019. AIR TRAFFIC ORGANIZATION (ATO) The operational arm of the FAA. The ATO is responsible for providing safe and efficient air navigation services for 30.2 million square miles of airspace. This represents more than 17% of the world's airspace and includes all of the United States and large portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (AIP) The Airport Improvement Program provides grants to public agencies – and, in some cases, to private owners and entities – for the planning and development of public-use airports that are included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). AIP is authorized as part of the FAA's authorizing legislation, and it is appropriated as Grants-in-Aid to Airports. APPROPRIATIONS BILL A legislative bill that authorizes the government and its administrative agencies to spend money. It is a bill that sets money aside for specific spending. ASDE-X TAXIWAY ARRIVAL PREDICTION (ATAP) ALERTING SYSTEM Just after the shutdown ended, a flight into Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) was cleared to land on Runway 35, but aligned itself on Taxiway E, parallel to the intended runway. A runway safety enhancement in Airport Surface Detection System – Model X (ASDE-X) called ASDE-X Taxiway Arrival Prediction (ATAP) Alerting System alerted the local controller who immediately instructed the pilot to execute a go-around. The pilot overflew two commercial airplanes on the taxiway by 600 and 700 feet respectively on the go-around. The ATAP system is currently enabled at five airports in addition to PHL (Atlanta, ATL; Bradley, BDL; Charlotte, CLT; Dallas-Fort Worth, DFW; and Seattle-Tacoma, SEA). Further implementation of ATAP has been delayed for at least 13 additional airports due to the 35-day government shutdown. AVIATION FUNDING STABILITY ACT OF 2019 (H.R. 1108) Shortly after the 35-day government shutdown ended, U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Rick Larsen, D-Wash., introduced H.R. 1108, which would authorize the FAA to continue to draw from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (Trust Fund), ensuring that the FAA can carry out its mission, in the event of a future government shutdown. All projects, programs, and activities that were previously funded would

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